Tool for stretching chains.



D. FRASER.

TOOL FOR STRETCHHJGv CHAINS.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 13, I916.

1,206,776. Patented Nov. 28, 1916.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

DONALD FRASER, OF MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN, ASSIGNOR TO (II-IAIN BELTCOMPANY, OF MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN, A CORPORATION OF WISCONSIN.

TOOL FOR STRETGI-IING CHAINS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 28, 1916.

Application filed September 13, 1916. Serial No. 119,886.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, DONALD FRASER, a citizenof the United States, residing at Milwaukee, in the county of Milwaukeeand State of Wisconsin, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Tools for Stretching Chains, of which the following is aspecification.

My invention relates to a tool for stretching and drawing together theends of chains, being especially adapted for use in uniting the ends ofheavy sprocket and conveyor chains.

In the accompanying drawings Figure 1 is a perspective View of achain-stretching tool embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a verticalsectional view of the tool.

In the drawings A designates a heavy conveyer chain the ends of whichare to be drawn together that they may be united, the tool constitutingthe subject of the present case being employed for that purpose. Thetool comprises a pair of hooks or chain-engaging members adapted toengage respectively with the links at the opposite ends of the chain,and means by which such chainengaging members may be drawn toward eachother.

2 represents a rigid bar provided at one end with a hook 3 adapted toengage with a chain link. One face of the bar at the end opposite thehook is provided with ratchet teeth 4. The bar is adapted to be seatedin a shoe 5 having a base and side walls or wings 7. at the edges of thebase, these wings bounding the seat in which is located the ratchet bar2 and operating to hold and guide the latter. The shoe is provided witha hook 6 that depends from the base of the shoe and is adapted to engagewith a link of the chain.

A hand lever 8 is pivoted at 9 between the side wings 7 of the shoe, andthe lower portion of the hand lever is forked as indicated at 10, andbetween the fork members are pivoted a pair "of pawls adapted to engagewith the ratchet portion 4 of the bar 2, one of the pawls','12,havingits connection with the lever above the pivot 9, and the other,11, below'such pivot. The pawls are of unequal length as indicated inthe drawings,

the upper one being the longer so that it is adapted to reach over theshorter and lower pawl, and both being arranged to be in simultaneousengagement with the ratchet bar 2. In using the tool the ends of thechain that are to be united are brought as near together as may be doneby hand unassisted.

' Then the tool is caused to engage with the opposite chain sections,the hook of the ratchet bar engaging a link at one end of the chain, andthe hook 6 of the shoe engaging a link at the other end of the chain.The hand lever 8 is now moved backward and forward upon its pivot 9, thepawls 11 and 12 at the same time engaging with the ratchet. Whicheverway the upper portion of the lever be moved one of the pawls moves in adirection to actuate the ratchet bar so that its hook approaches thehook 6 of the shoe, thus drawing the ends of the link toward each other,while the other ratchet is moved in the opposite direction passingloosely over the ratchet teeth and coming to position to take a new gripupon the bar 2. When the lever is released the pawls operate asretaining detents, holding the bar in the position to which it has beenmoved and preventing the chain ends from separating.

By arranging the hook 6 as shown, that is, below the pivot 9 for thehandle and so that it extends downward beyond the base of the shoe, thetool is directly and firmly supported by one of the parts to be movedthereby, the location insuring that the reciprocation of the handle 8shall not tend to disengage the hook 6.

What I claim is A tool for engaging with and drawing together the endsof sprocket and conveyer chains consisting of a ratchet bar carrying ahook adapted to engage with one section of the chain, a shoe in whichthe said bar is seated and'slides, from the base of which extends a hookadapted to engage with the other section of the chain, and a hand levercarrying a pair of alternately actingpawls that engage with theratcheted portion of the hooked bar, the pivot uniting the hand leverand shoe being directly above the hook carried by the shoe.

DONALD FRASER.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, byaddressing! the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C.

